Instant Family (10 page)

"Not really. I'm... Katy's upset because the cat's missing. What
did you want to say to me?"

"I wanted to check that you approved of Seb and Julian coming
over tomorrow to help with the awning. Seb works like a demon. I'm
very impressed."

"Good." So it was Seb now rather than Sebastian. Sounded like
mates.

"So? Can they come?"

"You make me sound like a dragon," she said in a strained voice.
And he sounded like one of their friends asking if they could come
out to play. Boys together.

"I don't mean to. I thought I was doing the right thing by asking."
Now he sounded bewildered.

"Yes, thank you for asking. They seem pretty keen."

"But you don't." It was a statement rather than a question.

Chloe licked her lips. "I wanted this to be a punishment for Seb. I
thought you did too."

"I do. It is. But?"

"It seems like he's having too much fun." Silence. She thought he
was going to laugh-it sounded so ridiculous even to her-but he must
have been considering his reply.

"I don't think they should be mutually exclusive, necessarily," he
said eventually. "We want Seb to compensate me for the damage,
but we also want to steer him onto another course. Actually, back on
course, because he's by no means a hardened thug. If we achieve
that by occupying him and teaching him other skills he happens to
enjoy, what's the problem?"

Chloe pursed her lips as she listened. Every word was true, and she agreed one hundred percent. The lawyer had said the same thing. It
was afterward that worried her. "You're right about all of that"

"But you're still worried about something."

"We„

"Pardon?

"You say `we' all the time, but it's not `we,' is it? It's me. Just me.
When Seb finishes his hours, your involvement is finished."

"In a way, yes." He was obviously still confused, bewildered. Why
couldn't he understand without her having to spell it out so baldly?

"You'll have helped him, I don't deny that, but you're not his father or his brother. You have no connection with us other than this.
You'll continue with your own life and your own family. And forget
about Seb"

"You think I won't want Seb to drop in after he's done his hours?
Is that what you're saying?" Alex's voice had risen as he spoke. Indignation verged on anger. "You think I'll just cast him aside like
some old shoe? Is that what you think of me?"

"I don't know!" cried Chloe. "I don't know anything about you.
How would I know? I can only go on experience, and this is what
experience tells me. People get tired of doing charitable deeds."

"This isn't charity," he said loudly.

"Isn't it? Aren't you getting a kick out of doing something for the
poor orphans? Why did your attitude change so drastically when
you found out our history? When you thought I was an irresponsible,
single, probably junkie, on-the-dole mother, you weren't so keen to
help. Quite the opposite."

Alex was silent.

"And inviting me to lunch the other day. What was that if not charity? Take poor Chloe to lunch because she never has any dates?"

That must have stung in exactly a tender, guilty spot, because he
stated too defiantly and loudly, "I invited you to lunch because I
thought you might like to have lunch with me. I would have enjoyed
it, but you obviously didn't want to"

"I had to take Katy to the orthodontist," cried Chloe.

"Why didn't you say so?" he demanded, angry frustration evident
in his rising intonation. Quick temper, just as she'd thought.

"You walked out before I could say anything" Plus he'd totally
dumbfounded her, and she couldn't think, let alone speak.

"Would you have come if you hadn't had that appointment?" He
was almost shouting now.

"Yes!" she yelled without thinking.

"Right. Thursday. Same time. Same place." It sounded like a dare.
A challenge.

"Right." Still riding the crest of her anger.

"Good-bye."

"Good-bye." Chloe slammed down the phone. And froze.

What had she done, accepting an invitation to lunch with Alex
when she'd emphasized to Seb not to get too friendly? He'd virtually forced her into saying yes, railroaded her into making the date
before she could think straight.

If she'd had time to think, she would have said, "No, thank you."
Not without regret, but it was much safer to keep to the line she'd
drawn in the sand. He stayed on his side. Gardiners stayed on theirs.

And on top of that she wouldn't be at The Music Room on Thursday. She began her regular teaching schedule next week.

Now what? Call him back and explain? Chloe sank onto the bed,
her burst of adrenaline-fueled energy dissipating like air from a
leaky balloon. Her whole body was shaking from the stress of that
exchange. She needed a moment to regroup before tackling another
session with him.

She sat up suddenly. Why had she agreed to lunch, even in anger,
when she didn't want to encourage him to become closer to the family? How would Seb interpret that mixed message? Alex is okay for
you to socialize with but not for me? He'd be even more furious and
rightly so. She had to decline, somehow gracefully back out.

If she waited too long, she wouldn't have the nerve. Or the inclination. Chloe snatched up the phone and pressed redial.

Busy signal. She tossed the phone onto the bed and lay down.
Her pulse was resuming its normal rate, the shakes gone. She sat
up again. What was happening to her? Bobbing up and down like a
yo-yo. Was she having a mental breakdown? Everything was spinning
out of control. First Seb with the police, now this thing with Alex and
Seb, then Julian wanting to get in on the act and hang out with the man. That use of we when it quite patently wasn't we-or wouldn't
be for more than a few weeks. Inviting her to lunch. All part of his
guilt-fueled enthusiasm to help the orphans. He was driving a wedge
down the center of the family unit.

Chloe picked up the phone again. Alex had probably reconsidered his invitation too after the display she'd put on. He'd be regretting the impulsive gesture made in residual anger at her initial
refusal. She'd probably insulted his masculinity by not accepting the
way he'd expected. Why, and how, did these things become so complicated?

This time he answered.

"It's Chloe," she said coolly. "I'm sorry, I forgot I won't be at the
shop next week. I start teaching again, so my timetable is quite different"

Alex said nothing for a moment, possibly considering whether to
take the out she'd offered him. The easy option of, "We'll do it some
other time." Then he said, "Does your new timetable have Thursday
lunch scheduled at all?"

"I finish at two, but I have to be home for Katy at three."

"Any other day better?"

"I have lunchtime students every day."

"Are you saying you can't have lunch?"

"I think so."

"What do you mean, you think so? Are you really saying you
don't want to have lunch with me?"

Chloe blanched at the baldness of the statement, and a tiny part of
her knew it wasn't true. She did want to have lunch with Alex, but
she wouldn't. The situation would became way too complicated
if she opened that door even the tiniest crack. She'd decided that long
ago. "I don't think it's a good idea."

"Why not?"

"I don't think we should get too friendly."

"What?" He gave a disbelieving, astonished laugh.

"Seb would get the wrong idea."

"Two adults having lunch is a `wrong idea'?"

"No, that I... that I don't want him to think of you as a family
friend. You're not."

"All right, Chloe. I understand." His voice nearly pinged, taut as
wire. "I apologize for putting you in a difficult situation. I won't do
it again. Thank you for calling and explaining."

The line clicked in her ear.

She should be pleased he hadn't pressured her for a better explanation. She wasn't. He thought she didn't like him, which wasn't true.
It had been at first. But not now. His invitation had set a door ajar, and
what she sensed through that doorway was bigger and more overwhelmingly frightening, more indescribably tempting than she dared
consider possible. And she hadn't congratulated him on finaling in
the awards.

Simone arrived on Saturday afternoon to take Katy out for a
sleepover at her town house.

"Chloe went on a date," announced Katy almost as soon as
Simone entered the house. She dropped her overnight bag onto the
floor to give Simone a kiss and be smothered in a hug redolent of
L'Air du Temps.

"Who with?" Simone sprang instantly to alert, letting Katy go but
accompanying the question with a conspiratorial stare.

"Brent Burrows, the policeman who arrested Seb. They had lunch
together."

"Ooh." Simone giggled and nudged Katy. "Is he handsome?"

"I haven't seen him."

Chloe sent a smiling glare at the pair of them. "He's tall and skinny
with dark hair."

Simone pulled a face. "Doesn't sound too attractive. I like something to get a grip on."

"He's very nice," protested Chloe.

Simone shook her head. "'Nice' doesn't cut the mustard, lovey.
Does he make your knees tremble?" she demanded. Katy laughed with
delight.

"No." Brent had been good company, polite and safe.

"Does your breathing stop and your mouth go dry?"

"No, thank goodness-that sounds awful." She pulled an alarmed
face at Katy, who was giggling uncontrollably.

"Not when you're in love. It's the most marvelous feeling." Simone
sighed and clasped her hands. "But I've had my turn. What about Chloe? That's our question. Is anyone else on the radar other than nice
Constable Plod?"

"Yes. Alex called her last night."

"Seb called him," corrected Chloe.

"But he wanted to talk to you. And she took the phone to her bedroom and shut the door," Katy announced to Simone, whose razorthin eyebrows shot toward her bouffant cloud of platinum hair.

"The man Seb vandalized?" she asked Chloe directly. "I thought
he was bad-tempered and rude despite his sexy phone voice."

"Seb thinks he's cool," interjected Katy. "Julian's gone with him
today to help build something."

"Julian as well?"

"Yes," said Chloe. "Katy, go and put your bag into Gran's car."
She waited until Katy had disappeared out the front door, frowning
as she considered how to address the subject. "I'm a bit worried,
Simone. Seb really loves going there, and now Julian's gone with
him. This whole thing was supposed to be a punishment, but it's
turned into something else entirely."

Again the eyebrows shot skyward, resembling two alarmed worms.
"Are you worried about the man himself? He's not likely to be violent, is he? Or a drinker?"

"Heavens, no!" Chloe grimaced.

"You never can tell. I was reading just the other day how-"

Chloe leaped in before she got right off track. "No, definitely
nothing like that. I think he genuinely likes having Seb there. Seb
says they talk a lot."

"What about?"

"I don't know."

"Hmm. How much longer has Seb got?"

"After today, about fourteen hours."

"He'll be finished soon. Don't worry. When he gets back to
school and sees his friends again, he won't be so keen on visiting
the man."

"I hope not. I'd like it to ease off naturally, but I don't want him
hanging around there all the time."

"No, I can see that could be a nuisance. Does this Alex see it as a
problem?"

"No, and that's part of the problem. I don't want Seb to get too attached to him, because Alex isn't going to want Seb coming
around indefinitely, is he? I mean, they can hardly be proper friends.
The age difference is enormous."

"I wouldn't worry about it too much. Maybe they talk boy stuff.
Seb can't get that from you, you know."

"But he has Julian," said Chloe. "And there's Frank next door. He
likes the boys and is happy to help out when the mower breaks down
or something."

"He must be nearly eighty!"

"Come on, Gran," came a wail from outside.

"He's seventy-three," said Chloe. Just a few years older than
Simone but, admittedly, not nearly as well preserved.

"Hardly a spring chicken. I'd better get a move on before Katy blows
a gasket. Ask this Alex what he thinks. He might simply like Seb.
We do." She laughed and patted Chloe's arm. "You worry too much.
And you never know, he could be interested in you, not Seb at all."

"I doubt it. I hardly see him." Was he? Sometimes he'd looked at
her a certain way. Not the appraisal of a disinterested man. But no.
Sophisticated Alex Bergman would not be interested in ordinary
Chloe Gardiner. Too much imagination could be a dangerous thing.

"Graaaan!"

"Coming," trilled Simone. "I'll bring her home tomorrow afternoon about four. Go over there if you're worried. Observe them in action. Make sure you wear something nice. You look good in pastels.
White is always fresh and pretty too, especially around the face"